Israeli strike in Jenin: three Palestinians killed in the West Bank

The Israeli army carried out an airstrike in Jenin, in the occupied West Bank, killing three Palestinians. This is the first such operation in the territory since February 2025.

Three Palestinians were killed Friday in an Israeli drone strike in Jenin, in the northern occupied West Bank. The Israeli army said in a statement that it had "eliminated" three individuals, one of whom was described as a Hamas operative, along with two accomplices. The primary target was identified as Qais Bitawi.

Hamas condemned the strike but did not claim Bitawi as a member of its organization. Palestinian Islamic Jihad, however, stated in a communiqué that Bitawi was a senior figure in its armed wing. According to the Palestinian news agency Wafa, the drone targeted a house under construction in the western part of Jenin, killing the three men instantly. AFP photos show Israeli soldiers removing a body from the building.

An Israeli army spokesperson confirmed that the strike targeted a vehicle carrying the three men. The Palestinian Red Crescent condemned the intervention of Israeli soldiers at the site of the strike: its teams were briefly detained and prevented from evacuating the wounded and dead to a hospital.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu praised the operation on the X network, calling it a "successful thwarting." Defense Minister Israel Katz congratulated the army, police, and Shin Bet, adding that the Jenin camp had been "evacuated of its residents" and that the army was now "permanently stationed there, as in other terrorist camps" in the West Bank.

Hamas called on the international community to "act immediately to end these crimes and impunity," holding Israel "fully responsible for the repercussions."

The West Bank, administered by the Palestinian Authority, is experiencing a surge in violence perpetrated by Israeli settlers and soldiers, but had until now been spared the airstrikes that have ravaged Gaza since the start of the war on October 7, 2023. The last Israeli strike in the West Bank was in February 2025. This operation comes as separate strikes in Gaza killed at least five people on Friday, and as Nikolay Mladenov, senior representative of the US-led Peace Council, warned that the failure of both sides to adhere to the peace roadmap "threatens a collapse of the ceasefire in Gaza."